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Blog

Welcome to the Horizon Imaging blog. This page will be updated regularly with news, current projects, details of new services and with the odd nuggets of advice thrown in here and there for good measure. Newest posts appear at the top of this page. Whilst this website has been online since 2007, this blog was only added in July 2014. Click on a blog post heading or the 'Read More' text to read a particular blog post.

Posts tagged “Aerial Inspection”

2700 square metres of Royal Hampshire County Hospital roof inspected with drone in Winchester

Posted on 29th March 2018 at 21:08

Last month we were commissioned to inspect over 2,700 square metres of roof structures at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester. This was one of our largest aerial inspection projects to date and involved a significant amount of planning as the hospital had to remain open whilst the work was being carried out. To complicate matters further, the hospital is directly opposite Winchester Prison — a very sensitive site with an understandable concern for drones flying anywhere near their land.

Thanks to our meticulous planning, the shoot was a complete success, with the entire roof structure being inspected from the air in under 3 hours. This saved our client, surveying firm AECOM considerable time and expense when compared to the only feasible alternative — cladding the entire building in scaffolding!

Roof of industrial unit inspected using drone and telescopic mast in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire

Posted on 13th February 2018 at 09:12

We were recently commissioned to inspect the 1000 square metre roof of an industrial unit in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. The imagery was required to support a condition report which had been commissioned by the potential new owner of the unit, as they wanted to know the state of the building before handing over their money!

Our client was structural engineering firm Bond Davidson, and we worked closely with one of their structural engineers to make sure all areas of interest were captured in the survey — these were primarily the condition of the bolts fixing the roof panels in place, the general condition of the roof panels themselves, the condition of the gutters and the condition of the roof around any protrusions through the roof's surface, eg. chimneys.

The Malls Shopping Centre in Basingstoke have been struggling for years with the inflated roof structure above their main courtyard developing mysterious holes, triggering the roof's automated deflation alarms. After some investigation they discovered the culprit(s) — the local seagulls! For some reason they continuously peck at the clear outer membrane until they've punctured it ... and then they abandon their 'creation' and start afresh elsewhere! Numerous attempts have been made to scare the birds away using automated bird deterrents, but so far none of them have proved effective. As such, a quicker and more cost-effective solution was required for locating and identifying the severity of the holes.

Who would have thought it? Firstly mentioning the word Christmas in the middle of August, and secondly, our telescopic mast holding the key to a Christmas decoration installation on a suspended canopy roof — yes, we were equally baffled!

Earlier this month we performed a very simple inspection shoot with our telescopic mast outside The Malls shopping centre in Basingstoke, Hampshire. The task was to take some photographs of the top of a suspended canopy roof to ascertain whether there were suitable fixing points available for ... yes you guessed it, Christmas decorations!

A few weeks ago we were commissioned to take some inspection photographs of a building in Cricklewood, London, where a roof-level facade of bricks appeared to be sagging under its own weight, as well as bowing inwards towards the rest of the building. The building's owners, understandably concerned, called in a structural engineering firm to investigate.

The roof itself was inaccessible without using a cherry picker or scaffolding, so the only option for performing a visual inspection of the facade was either to use a drone or a telescopic mast. As this building was on the corner of a very busy road junction, using the drone was not an option — so it was our mast to the rescue!

We were recently commissioned by a building surveyor to take a set of inspection photographs of the roof of a terraced house in Hammersmith, London, and this shoot was a prime example of how our telescopic mast is perfectly suited to performing roof inspections in very cramped conditions where no vehicle-mounted mast could ever reach.

Fully-portable telescopic mast inspects the internal brickwork of an old boiler chimney in Brixton, London

Posted on 25th August 2016 at 09:00

A few weeks ago Horizon Imaging received a strange request from a fellow drone aerial photography company who were inspecting the exterior of an old public swimming bath in Brixton, London – could we put our telescopic mast inside the old boiler chimney of the swimming bath to inspect the condition of the brickwork?! As our mast is fully portable and sits in its own 4-legged tripod, the answer was "of course we can"!

Roof of 4-storey block of flats inspected for damage in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey in under an hour

Posted on 4th August 2016 at 09:00

Last month we were commissioned to perform a preventative-maintenance roof inspection of a block of flats in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey. Although the client had initially asked us to use our drone for the inspection, they were unaware of the restrictions that govern where drones can and cannot be used. As this flat was in a busy neighbourhood with roads, cars and other blocks of flats on all sides, we suggested using our fully-portable 50-foot telescopic mast instead.

What do you do if you have an inaccessible roof that you need to photograph? Call in Horizon Imaging of course! We were recently commissioned to take some aerial inspection photographs of an industrial unit in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

The new tenant had just taken out a 15 year lease on the property, and he required an initial set of photographs detailing the condition of the roof so he had a record of the roof's condition at the beginning of his tenancy.

Horizon Imaging Ltd is registered in England and Wales, No. 06249598, at the office address above.

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Horizon Imaging Ltd is registered in England and Wales, No. 06249598, at the office address above.

Want to stay up to date with our latest news and announcements?

Simply fill in your details to sign up to our monthly newsletter. You will only receive one email per month containing links to our latest blog posts, your details will not be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Please leave blank:

First Name:

Last Name:

Email Address:

Are you looking to hire a Drone Aerial Photographer in the UK?

Be sure to grab your FREE copy of our Guidelines, covering essential topics like licensing, insurance, and pilot competence. CLICK HERE.Horizon Imaging Ltd is a licensed and insured drone operator, and you can find out more about the regulations on our About page.